Re Tasers, I’ve no expertise in this but I would expect them to be no use for self defence at close range against someone with a knife. When that unarmed policeman at Houses of Parliament was killed I thought he should have had a longish stun baton but again, I’ve no expertise.
Yes, I was watching that early on and I decided the logical explanation of what I was looking at was that the knife was his—- he could have been a passing chef for example — otherwise I couldn’t see why he didn’t drop the knife, once clear. When we found he was an of—duty/plain clothes cop I was even more surprised he didn’t drop it!
Also they are little defence against a truck etc. The attackers don’t generally choose area where police are present (IRA an exception to this where they targeted police).
I think that’s the right way to do it, albeit for the wrong reasons.
I can't imagine a taser being any more "ready to fire" than a handgun when it is holstered.
It’s known as the Parthian Shot of course
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Prepared to be contradicted, but AFAIK to stop someone with a knife charging you who may also be wearing some protective clothing, would take something like a short barrelled shotgun + slug. To avoid injury you would need something to stop them and ideally knock them over.I was thinking exactly the same
[For the benefit of anybody like me suffering 3's ridiculous nanny filter you can read about the 21 foot rule aka Tueller Drill here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tueller_Drill - you'll be happy to know that Mythbusters have checked this.]
I suppose the main difference is you could get away with firing a taser "too early" because you're unlikely to kill the person. But yeah, inside 21 feet you need to practise drawing while running backwards.
Non lethal, my suggestion (not sure if practical) would be something like a vehicle air bag in a baton, perhaps with a sticky surface or a net. Ah, net, the Roman Retarius gladiator with trident and net maybe sugests an answer
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OK, how about this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_gun . According to Wiki “During World War I, both the British and Germans deployed elephant guns obtained from their African colonies in an attempt to break the stalemate in the trenches. The British used elephant guns as a means of countering the German tactic of having their snipers advance towards Allied lines under the cover of a large, 6–10 millimeter (0.24–0.4 inch) thick steel plate. Though normal small arms were ineffective against the plate, the elephant guns of the era had enough force to punch through it.”You're wrong
Baseball bat good, and possibly works (if swung) against 2 men with knives for a limited time.
I don’t know. I think there’s no dispute Duggan had been to buy a pistol and had it in the car, his prints/dna were on the box. There was no trace of him on the gun but he presumably was conscious of not leaving traces on guns so I discount that - he used a cloth to handle it if not gloves. It’s possible the police made a split second error but in all the circumstances that seems unimportant.
It seems to be SOP for the families of criminals who come to a sticky end these days. "He was a loving son and a great dad" is part of the boilerplate used by too many newspapers. I imagine a list of convictions and statements by his victims wouldn't have quite the same effect.
Without proper rehabilitation services, longer sentences won't stop re-offending, or in this case going on a killing spree, it just kicks the can down the road.
Or stopped putting minor criminals gaol where they learn how to become major ones
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It seems to be SOP for the families of criminals who come to a sticky end these days. "He was a loving son and a great dad" is part of the boilerplate used by too many newspapers. I imagine a list of convictions and statements by his victims wouldn't have quite the same effect.
Yes, though ‘trace’ could refer to DNA (which I think tied him to the box the gun was in, not sure though).
